Fig. 5.

(a) Anterior lateral radiographs shows exaggerated anterior wedging (near 25% height loss) in a mid-thoracic vertebra (*), in a 7 year-old girl treated with glucocorticoids for linear scleroderma. This was present and unchanged on all scans for 3 years. (b) Lateral radiograph shows a wedge compression fracture with near 25% anterior height loss at T11 (*), in a 9 year-old girl treated with glucocorticoids for acute lymphoblastic leukemia. (c) Diagram distinguishes between these. In both cases the endplates appear uninterrupted such that this criterion is not helpful. Note that in the upper schematic vertebra, drawn from image (a), the posterior portions of the endplates retain their normal childhood convexity, while in the lower vertebra, drawn from image (b), the endplates are flattened and linear. Also, (b) shows a double endplate contour (bone-in-bone), which, although nonspecific, can be seen during fracture healing